Christmas with Autism

Preparing for Christmas in our house is not just about putting up trees, decorating, buying and wrapping gifts. There is much more to Christmas in our house.

We prepare for sensory overload.

We prepare for going out and about with sensory processing disorder.

We research Christmas strategies for children with autism spectrum disorder.

We spend a month practicing saying “thank you.”

We make calendars and schedules.

Sometimes despite it all we break and then we pick up the pieces, put them back together and keep going.

I said to my husband we make all it all look so easy with Crew. We try to always be there the second a fit is about to start to immediately stop it. This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, right? Did someone forget to instill that sentiment in families with children who have special needs? We work the whole month getting ready for all the overload and scheduling to have Christmas over in one day and have to spend the next month explaining how this holiday has come and gone. We have no idea what goes on inside the minds of these brilliant children. We have no clue how overwhelming this holiday season can be, though, heck it is overwhelming for us as adults. This is a magical time of the year to wish and believe in things. I am going to spend the holiday season believing that Crew has autism for a reason. Maybe this can teach me patience and to truly sit back and think about what the holiday season it all about.

Sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we cannot see.